Payback
by dangerusliasons
Summary: Kate dissappears, what will Gibbs be willing to do to get her back?


Title: Payback

Authors: ncisfanatic/appeshipper

Rating: G

Category: Angst/Romance

Pairing: Kate/Gibbs

Spoilers: Everything through Engima

Summary: Kate goes missing, Gibbs thinks she's just mad at him and we see Agent Fornell, again. Kate and Gibbs aren't together in the first part of this one. But will they be at the end?

After the horrible day that would not end, Kate Todd, sighing stopped at the door to her apartment and looked down, noticing that her door was slightly open. She knew she locked it this morning. So, she pulled her gun and kicked the door the rest of the way open. A gun was firmly pointed in her face. "Nice to see you again, Agent Todd."

She stood there, not moving. "Sorry, I don't know you."

"But I know you and that's really all that matters right now. Put the gun down." She hesitated, knowing if she put the gun down she'd be completely defenseless; it was not a feeling she liked. He pulled the trigger back. "Put the gun down." She kneeled down, placing the gun on the floor before standing back up. "Kick it away." She did. "Hands behind you. You know the drill."

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"You'll know when you need to know." She snorted. "Hands behind you." She wasn't going to make it easy for this bastard. He stroked her cheek. "I'd hate to have to hurt you, but I will if it's necessary."

"Go to hell."

He slapped her across the face. "Mind your tongue." Her hand went to her face as she shot daggers at the man with her eyes. "That's not going to do any good. I suggest you do what you're told. Throw out the rest of your weapons and put your hands behind your back."

"I'm doing this under protest."

"Lady, I don't give a damn." She put her hands behind her back. As she looked around she noticed her sketchbook open on the dining room table, directly to the drawing of Gibbs she'd done so long ago. 'Damn,' she thought. "He's not going to save you this time." She clenched her jaw. She started to struggle against him. He pulled her close to him, restraining her. She continued to thrash about, she wasn't going to let him get away that easily and knew if she put up a fight it would give Tony and Gibbs something to go off of. He held her tighter, his hands leaving grip marks on her wrists.

"You're not gonna get away with this."

"You'd be surprised." Suddenly, a cloth was over her mouth and she struggled against the man, but lost consciousness shortly after. He carried her out like a rag doll, tying her down in the backseat before taking off.

Tony looked at his watch for the third time, "Boss, shouldn't Kate be here by now?" It was almost noon and Kate wasn't there yet.

"Yeah." He wasn't that concerned though; he'd had that feeling like right before his ex-wife used to hit him with the golf club.

"So, shouldn't we do something?" Gibbs just looked at him. Tony kept his eyes fixed on Gibbs' not backing down.

"You go."

He nodded, quickly grabbing his stuff. She'd want to see Tony, whether or not something was wrong. The reason he stressed rule #12 so much was he just couldn't bear to see her with DiNozzo.

Tony made it to Kate's apartment in record time, he ran up the stairs, two at a time. When he got to her apartment door and noticed it wide open, he knew something was wrong. Drawing his gun, he cautiously made his way inside of Kate's apartment. After he'd checked the place over to see if anyone was there, he went back to the door, noticing her sketchpad open on the table. "Damn," said Tony, reaching for his phone and pushed number one on the speed dial.

"NCIS."

"Gibbs, Kate's not here and there are definite signs of a struggle and I found Kate's gun."

"Just one?"

"Hang on," he looked around and spotted her .22 that she had in her ankle holster laying near the dishwasher. "Make that two."

He let the phone drop, running out. Tony hung up and waited for him. Gibbs made it there even faster than Tony; trying not to act so worried. He already had his gloves on and was taking pictures of the damage, the broken vase, and the door, and Kate's guns lying on the floor. Gibbs started looking around, but noticed the sketchpad out on the table. He'd seen the pictures of Abby and Tony...this wasn't the same.

"Boss." Tony tried to get his attention. Gibbs turned towards him. "I guess I should've called earlier."

Gibbs turned his attention to the broken vase. "There's blood here."

Tony went over and took pictures. "I'll get some of it to Abby so she can determine if it's Kate's blood type." Just the thought of Kate hurt made him sick and he walked out, opening his glove compartment to get some coffee grounds out, sticking them in his mouth.

Tony came back from giving the samples to Abby, noticing Gibbs staring out into space. The coffee wasn't working and he put another tablespoon in before his phone rang. Tony walked over to Gibbs desk and listened.

"Katie?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh, Katie." The man mocked Gibbs and laughed.

"Who is this?" He growled.

"In good time, my dear Agent Gibbs, in good time. Did you lose something?"

"You obviously did."

"Agent Gibbs, I don't know what you could be referring to."

"Your mind if you don't think I won't find you."

"Oh, that. I can assure you I'm quite sane Agent Gibbs."

"Let me talk to Kate."

"Why?"

"Let me talk to her!"

"My, my what a temper you have. Are you like this when anyone goes missing? Or is it just this agent specifically?"

"What do you want?"

"Who said I wanted anything, Gunny?"

"You wouldn't have taken her if you didn't want something."

"You're smarter than you look Agent Gibbs. I'm fairly impressed."

"What do you want?"

"In good time."

"Let me talk to her."

"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."

"Please," he said through gritted teeth.

"Much better." He said passing the phone to Kate who took it, her wrists still bound.

"Gibbs?" She asked.

"Katie. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just peachy."

"Kate..."

"Gibbs I'm fine."

"I'm gonna get you out. I promise."

"I never thought any different."

"Good girl." He paused. "Tony, Abby, Ducky, they're all going crazy." I'm going crazy; he wanted to add.

"Tony, going crazy whoever heard of such a thing." The last part of the sentence became very soft.

He changed the subject, a pang of hurt when she mentioned Tony. "Do you know this guy?"

"No, he says he knows me though."

"Can you tell me anything about him? Anything about where you are?"

She looked around, "There aren't any windows and it's dark in here except for the light coming from the opened door."

"What about him?"

"I don't know..." She hissed, not wanting to talk about her captor while he was in the room with her.

"Let me talk to him, again, okay?" She didn't say anything but she was holding onto the phone tightly, since it was her only lifeline to the outside world. "Do you know what he wants?"

"No, he hasn't told me anything."

"I need to know what he wants. We need to keep the phone line open as long as he'll let us, right?"

"Yeah. He's not above hitting women though."

"Katie, you said you were okay."

"I am."

"Let me talk to the bastard."

"You saw the sketchpad?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"It's good?" She was trying to convey to him that it might be the cause of this.

"Yeah, Katie, you're gifted."

She half-smiled. "I'm okay."

"Let me talk to him, okay? Don't worry about anything."

"Easier said than done." She handed the phone back to the guy.

"Hello again Agent Gibbs, have a nice chat with Caitlin?"

"Listen, you asshole, you have a problem, you take it out on me. You hit any woman, especially Agent Todd, again, and I'll kick your ass."

"Oh, how protective we've become of Caitlin, I didn't know you were that fond of her."

"I mean it. You harm one hair on her head and I'll kill you."

"Caitlin's got a boyfriend, Caitlin's got a boyfriend." The man taunted both Gibbs and Kate.

"You're a coward."

"No, you are. She is beautiful isn't she?"

"How am I a coward? What kind of man would take a woman instead of dealing with the problem man to man?"

"To get the man's attention of course."

"You've got it. What do you want?"

"Payback's a bitch Agent Gibbs." He hung up.

Gibbs cursed, slamming the phone down so hard that the top of his desk cracked. Tony jumped back. "He hit her."

"Damn it. What does he want?"

"Me."

"Why does he want you?"

"Hell if I know."

"Is she okay?"

"She says she is, but you know Kate..."

He shook his head, 'Yeah in a lot of ways she's just like you boss.' He thought.

"He called me Gunny and Agent."

"Something to do with when you were a Marine?"

"Damn it." He hurried out, heading to the FBI building.

Bypassing the secretary, he walked into Fornell's office, slamming the door so hard it almost broke.

"Agent Gibbs, so nice to see you again." Fornell's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"You have a problem with me, you take it up with me." He saw the look on the man's face. "Agent Todd was taken sometime last night."

"I'm sorry, Agent Todd, is a good Agent."

"One of your agents took her."

"What do you mean one of 'my' agents?"

"It had something to do with Ryan and the FBI agent that was killed. The FBI agent that took her likes to hit women."

"Wait, he hit her?"

"Yeah."

"Damn it Alverez."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"Then you're an accessory. At least it worked with Ryan and me that way. And if he hurts her, after I finish with him, I'll come after you. Now tell me what you know about him." Fornell handed him Alverez's file.

He took it, going back to NCIS. "Did you trace the call?" He asked, tossing the file close to where Tony was sitting.

"30 more seconds."

Gibbs' cell phone rang again. "What?"

"Agent Gibbs, you sound upset."

"Alverez. I knew I'd be hearing from you again."

"Actually, I'm doing this at Caitlin's request, after she said some rather nasty things to me and she tried to escape. She is quite feisty."

"Did you hurt her?"

"Ask her." He shoved the phone in Kate's face.

"Katie."

"I'm here."

"Are you okay?" His voice was soft, gentle.

"Yeah." Her voice was shaky and she'd closed her eyes, trying to focus on the sound of his voice.

"Caitlin..."

"I'm fine Gibbs."

"I know who he is. I'm gonna be there real soon, I promise."

"God, please just keep talking to me." She started hyperventilating.

"Shh, it's okay. Everything's okay, just calm down." He was panicking himself, but kept speaking in a calm, even tone so he didn't scare her even more. Tony was looking at him, suspiciously, his voice had suddenly changed to soft and gently and now he could almost detect worry in it. He didn't care what Tony thought; right now, the only person on his mind was Kate. "Just breathe, okay? In and out, slowly."

She started to calm down a little but was still breathing hard. "Just talk to me please." She begged, she couldn't believe she was actually begging especially to Jethro Gibbs.

"I'm gonna come get you and I'll even let you shoot DiNozzo if you want."

She laughed, "I wanna shoot you."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from a former Marine."

"I'll let you hit me with a golf club if you want though."

She swallowed hard. "I should've torn that picture up." She thought about the one she'd drawn of him but never actually found the courage to.

"Why?"

"Because your an arrogant bastard."

"Okay."

"I guess I'm gonna have to resign from this place now too."

"Don't you dare."

"Give me one good reason."

He felt Tony there. "I can't right now. I promise I will soon."

"Wow, making promises Gibbs. Big step for you." She teased.

"Yeah."

Tony moved away, hearing the hesitation in the older man's voice. He wrote on a piece of paper and held it up so he could see. "Going to see if Abby found prints on the glass."

He nodded and waited until Tony had left. "Kate..."

"Yeah?" She had calmed down considerably.

"Maybe I should be the one to resign." He was pretty sure she'd know what he meant.

"Gibbs..."

"Yeah."

"Don't resign on account of me."

He knew, or at least he thought he knew, what she meant...that she and Tony were involved after all. "You sound like you're doing better," he said, changing the subject, a lump in his throat, feeling like a little boy for the first time in years.

"Gibbs...I don't want you to leave, because..."

"Kate, don't worry about it. Just hang tight, okay?"

"Tony's not the one I drew that picture of. He's not the one I think about every night when I go home..."

He thought about what she was saying. "Katie..." He said softly again.

"Gibbs... I..." He waited for her to continue. She sniffed and wiped her face; glad the bastard wasn't in the room anymore.

"Katie?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just have a lot to say I don't know how to say it."

"One word at a time, Caitlin."

"I don't want Tony. I never have."

"Okay."

"I want what rule 12 prohibits."

"You know why I made that up?"

"No,"

"I couldn't stand to see you with DiNozzo."

"There's only you." She said softly.

"I'm not gonna let him hurt you anymore, Katie. I won't let anyone do it."

She smiled. "I know."

"Hold on."

"Yeah."

"Got any ideas what we can do after you come home?"

"Haven't had much time to think about it."

"Well, that'll give you something to take your mind off things."

"I've only got one thing on my mind right now." She paused, "You didn't take that picture into evidence did you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"Just curious."

"I'm sorry, Kate."

"Never say you're sorry."

"I thought you were mad at me."

"I was, until Ducky told us you were trying to protect us."

"Well, that's why I didn't tell you."

"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt any less."

"I know. But when I was in that warehouse, I was glad you weren't there."

"Why?"

He paused. He thought they'd known about that. "Never mind," he said quickly.

"God Gibbs, get here soon please."

"I want you to let me talk to Alverez first...and try to stay out of trouble this time. I know it's hard for you."

"I learned from the best."

"You were doing this on Air Force One."

"Talk soon." She handed the phone back to Alverez who'd walked into the room again.

"You're doing this because of me, correct?"

"You're getting the picture now."

"You give Kate to one of my agents and I'll do whatever you want."

"You are sweet on her."

"Do we have a deal?"

Kate looked at Alverez and saw him mouth what Gibbs was willing to do for her. "Gibbs, No!"

He ignored Kate's pleas. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes Agent Gibbs, we have a deal."

"You pick a time, I pick a place?"

"2100."

"The warehouse where you tried to shoot me."

"Deal."

"You hurt her, you back out, and you'll regret it for what's left of your life."

"You sure do know how to make beautiful women cry." He hung up and went to find Tony.

Tony was down in the lab with Abby.

"I've got her back, but I need you to help."

"Boss."

"What?"

"You traded your life for Kate's." He could see it in the older man's eyes.

"When you get her, I don't care what she does or says, you get her out of there."

He nodded, "Yeah boss. I can do that."

"He hurt her; she's hyperventilated. If she won't go to the hospital, bring her here to Ducky."

"Okay."

"2100. You'll follow me."

"Yeah."

He returned to his desk, looking at a picture of him and Kate Abby had taken while they were undercover as Marines.

Four hours later, he was at the warehouse. "Alverez!"

"Agent Gibbs, nice of you to join us."

"Let her go."

"No, don't listen to him." Kate pleaded.

"I'll start walking as she comes over to Agent DiNozzo."

"No Gibbs!" She screamed. He couldn't even look at her.

He shoved her away, "I didn't really need you anyway." She looked at him, and then turned to look at Gibbs. His blue eyes pleaded with her to go to Tony and trust him. She was crying, but rose to her full height and started walking to Tony, who was waiting rather impatiently. Tony hurried out with her, but Gibbs didn't move.

When they were outside she hit Tony repeatedly, "We have to go back in there! He'll kill him!"

"Kate, he's okay!"

"He'll kill him." Tony picked her up and headed towards the car, Kate kicking all the way, when a gunshot sounded. "No!" She screamed, and fought against Tony. Tony held her, secure, but not where he would hurt her. "Damn, it Tony, let me go." She cried.

"I can't. I promised."

"No," she cried.

Gibbs stood, gun drawn, over Alverez. "Give me a reason I shouldn't kill you."

"What would your company leader think?"

"That both my agents and myself were in danger. I had no choice." He laughed. "You're a coward, a bastard that likes picking on women."

"What would your dear Caitlin think?"

"She's not here. It's just you and me."

"True but right now she thinks you're dead." Gibbs found himself unable to kill Alverez and started walking towards the door. Alverez got another gun and took a shot at Gibbs' back. He made a cry of pain as the bullet hit the back of his shoulder.

"One for the money." Alverez laughed. He kept walking. "And two for the show." He said shooting at Gibbs again. Gibbs turned and fired, hitting Alverez in the head.

Kate was sitting in the morgue crying. "Shh, Caitlin dear," Ducky said helplessly, bandaging her up.

"He's dead because of me."

"It'll take more than this to kill Jethro." She kept crying.

Tony came in. "Come on."

"What?" She looked at him.

"Either you walk or I carry you again." She got up, nodded her head to the older man and walked with Tony.

He bypassed the desks, driving to the hospital, and led her to a room. "You want me to stick around or you'll be okay?"

"I'll be okay." He nodded, leaving. She braced herself and pushed open the door.

"Hey. I hear you beat the hell out of Tony," he said with a tired smile. She started crying again. "Oh, Katie, don't cry." He gently pulled her to sit with him.

"I...I...thought...he'd killed you."

"You think he could kill me?" She forced a smile for him. "You okay, Katie?"

"Now, I am, now I am." He kissed her bruise gently. "I never wanted Tony, I only wanted you. Something that was unattainable."

"It's okay now. It's all okay."

"I needed to say that."

"I know." He kissed her forehead. She leaned against him. He winced, wrapping his arm around her. She felt him wince, and moved away. "Come back here."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You never could." She leaned against him again and put her hand on his chest.

He kissed into her hair. "Tell me what Ducky said."

"About what?"

"Poverty and inflation." He rolled his eyes. "You."

"I'm fine."

"Is that you talking or Ducky?"

"Both."

He had his doubts about Alverez not hurting Kate, especially if she'd tried to escape, but he knew he couldn't fight her. She listened to the steady beat of his heart and, in minutes, was fast asleep curled in his arms. Secure that she was safely enclosed in his arms, he lay his head on top of hers and fell asleep as well.

-End-


End file.
